Veggie dishes are best served as a surprise

If vegetarian dishes have their own section in the menu, diners are less likely to choose themGETTY IMAGES

If you want to encourage meat eaters to choose a vegetarian meal, it’s best to catch them by surprise.

A study has found that having a separate vegetarian section on a menu makes fewer diners choose the dishes. When the ricotta raviolis and mushroom risottos were hidden between T-bone steaks and hamburgers, meat eaters were more likely to pick them out.

The research, published in the journal Appetite, involved almost 800 people, none of them vegetarians or vegans. They were all shown a mock up of a restaurant menu. They were then told to imagine they were meeting a friend for dinner, and asked which dish they would choose as a main course.

In some menus the vegetarian dishes were given elaborate names. In some,…